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PATCH(1) General Commands Manual PATCH(1)
patch - apply a diff file to an original
patch [options] [originalfile [patchfile]]
but usually just
patch -pnum <patchfile
patch takes a patch file patchfile containing a difference
listing produced by the diff program and applies those
differences to one or more original files, producing patched
versions. Normally the patched versions are put in place of the
originals. Backups can be made; see the -b or --backup option.
The names of the files to be patched are usually taken from the
patch file, but if there's just one file to be patched it can be
specified on the command line as originalfile.
Upon startup, patch attempts to determine the type of the diff
listing, unless overruled by a -c (--context), -e (--ed), -n
(--normal), or -u (--unified) option. Context diffs (old-style,
new-style, and unified) and normal diffs are applied by the patch
program itself, while ed diffs are simply fed to the ed(1) editor
via a pipe.
patch tries to skip any leading garbage, apply the diff, and then
skip any trailing garbage. Thus you could feed an article or
message containing a diff listing to patch, and it should work.
If the entire diff is indented by a consistent amount, if lines
end in CRLF, or if a diff is encapsulated one or more times by
prepending "- " to lines starting with "-" as specified by
Internet RFC 934, this is taken into account. After removing
indenting or encapsulation, lines beginning with # are ignored,
as they are considered to be comments.
With context diffs, and to a lesser extent with normal diffs,
patch can detect when the line numbers mentioned in the patch are
incorrect, and attempts to find the correct place to apply each
hunk of the patch. As a first guess, it takes the line number
mentioned for the hunk, plus or minus any offset used in applying
the previous hunk. If that is not the correct place, patch scans
both forwards and backwards for a set of lines matching the
context given in the hunk. First patch looks for a place where
all lines of the context match. If no such place is found, and
it's a context diff, and the maximum fuzz factor is set to 1 or
more, then another scan takes place ignoring the first and last
line of context. If that fails, and the maximum fuzz factor is
set to 2 or more, the first two and last two lines of context are
ignored, and another scan is made. (The default maximum fuzz
factor is 2.)
Hunks with less prefix context than suffix context (after
applying fuzz) must apply at the start of the file if their first
line number is 1. Hunks with more prefix context than suffix
context (after applying fuzz) must apply at the end of the file.
If patch cannot find a place to install that hunk of the patch,
it puts the hunk out to a reject file, which normally is the name
of the output file plus a .rej suffix, or # if .rej would
generate a file name that is too long (if even appending the
single character # makes the file name too long, then # replaces
the file name's last character).
The rejected hunk comes out in unified or context diff format.
If the input was a normal diff, many of the contexts are simply
null. The line numbers on the hunks in the reject file may be
different than in the patch file: they reflect the approximate
location patch thinks the failed hunks belong in the new file
rather than the old one.
As each hunk is completed, you are told if the hunk failed, and
if so which line (in the new file) patch thought the hunk should
go on. If the hunk is installed at a different line from the
line number specified in the diff, you are told the offset. A
single large offset may indicate that a hunk was installed in the
wrong place. You are also told if a fuzz factor was used to make
the match, in which case you should also be slightly suspicious.
If the --verbose option is given, you are also told about hunks
that match exactly.
If no original file origfile is specified on the command line,
patch tries to figure out from the leading garbage what the name
of the file to edit is, using the following rules.
First, patch takes an ordered list of candidate file names as
follows:
• If the header is that of a context diff, patch takes the old
and new file names in the header. A name is ignored if it
does not have enough slashes to satisfy the -pnum or
--strip=num option. The name /dev/null is also ignored.
• If there is an Index: line in the leading garbage and if
either the old and new names are both absent or if patch is
conforming to POSIX, patch takes the name in the Index: line.
• For the purpose of the following rules, the candidate file
names are considered to be in the order (old, new, index),
regardless of the order that they appear in the header.
Then patch selects a file name from the candidate list as
follows:
• If some of the named files exist, patch selects the first name
if conforming to POSIX, and the best name otherwise.
• If patch is not ignoring RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, and SCCS
(see the -g num or --get=num option), and no named files exist
but an RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, or SCCS master is found,
patch selects the first named file with an RCS, ClearCase,
Perforce, or SCCS master.
• If no named files exist, no RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, or SCCS
master was found, some names are given, patch is not
conforming to POSIX, and the patch appears to create a file,
patch selects the best name requiring the creation of the
fewest directories.
• If no file name results from the above heuristics, you are
asked for the name of the file to patch, and patch selects
that name.
To determine the best of a nonempty list of file names, patch
first takes all the names with the fewest path name components;
of those, it then takes all the names with the shortest basename;
of those, it then takes all the shortest names; finally, it takes
the first remaining name.
Additionally, if the leading garbage contains a Prereq: line,
patch takes the first word from the prerequisites line (normally
a version number) and checks the original file to see if that
word can be found. If not, patch asks for confirmation before
proceeding.
The upshot of all this is that you should be able to say, while
in a news interface, something like the following:
| patch -d /usr/src/local/blurfl
and patch a file in the blurfl directory directly from the
article containing the patch.
If the patch file contains more than one patch, patch tries to
apply each of them as if they came from separate patch files.
This means, among other things, that it is assumed that the name
of the file to patch must be determined for each diff listing,
and that the garbage before each diff listing contains
interesting things such as file names and revision level, as
mentioned previously.
-b or --backup
Make backup files. That is, when patching a file, rename or
copy the original instead of removing it. When backing up a
file that does not exist, an empty, unreadable backup file is
created as a placeholder to represent the nonexistent file.
See the -V or --version-control option for details about how
backup file names are determined.
--backup-if-mismatch
Back up a file if the patch does not match the file exactly
and if backups are not otherwise requested. This is the
default unless patch is conforming to POSIX.
--no-backup-if-mismatch
Do not back up a file if the patch does not match the file
exactly and if backups are not otherwise requested. This is
the default if patch is conforming to POSIX.
-B pref or --prefix=pref
Use the simple method to determine backup file names (see the
-V method or --version-control method option), and append pref
to a file name when generating its backup file name. For
example, with -B /junk/ the simple backup file name for
src/patch/util.c is /junk/src/patch/util.c.
--binary
Write all files in binary mode, except for standard output and
/dev/tty. When reading, disable the heuristic for
transforming CRLF line endings into LF line endings. This
option is needed on POSIX systems when applying patches
generated on non-POSIX systems to non-POSIX files. (On POSIX
systems, file reads and writes never transform line endings.
On Windows, reads and writes do transform line endings by
default, and patches should be generated by diff --binary when
line endings are significant.)
-c or --context
Interpret the patch file as a ordinary context diff.
-d dir or --directory=dir
Change to the directory dir immediately, before doing anything
else.
-D define or --ifdef=define
Use the #ifdef ... #endif construct to mark changes, with
define as the differentiating symbol.
--dry-run
Print the results of applying the patches without actually
changing any files.
-e or --ed
Interpret the patch file as an ed script.
-E or --remove-empty-files
Remove output files that are empty after the patches have been
applied. Normally this option is unnecessary, since patch can
examine the time stamps on the header to determine whether a
file should exist after patching. However, if the input is
not a context diff or if patch is conforming to POSIX, patch
does not remove empty patched files unless this option is
given. When patch removes a file, it also attempts to remove
any empty ancestor directories.
-f or --force
Assume that the user knows exactly what he or she is doing,
and do not ask any questions. Skip patches whose headers do
not say which file is to be patched; patch files even though
they have the wrong version for the Prereq: line in the patch;
and assume that patches are not reversed even if they look
like they are. This option does not suppress commentary; use
-s for that.
-F num or --fuzz=num
Set the maximum fuzz factor. This option only applies to
diffs that have context, and causes patch to ignore up to that
many lines of context in looking for places to install a hunk.
Note that a larger fuzz factor increases the odds of a faulty
patch. The default fuzz factor is 2. A fuzz factor greater
than or equal to the number of lines of context in the context
diff, ordinarily 3, ignores all context.
-g num or --get=num
This option controls patch's actions when a file is under RCS
or SCCS control, and does not exist or is read-only and
matches the default version, or when a file is under ClearCase
or Perforce control and does not exist. If num is positive,
patch gets (or checks out) the file from the revision control
system; if zero, patch ignores RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, and
SCCS and does not get the file; and if negative, patch asks
the user whether to get the file. The default value of this
option is given by the value of the PATCH_GET environment
variable if it is set; if not, the default value is zero.
--help
Print a summary of options and exit.
-i patchfile or --input=patchfile
Read the patch from patchfile. If patchfile is -, read from
standard input, the default.
-l or --ignore-whitespace
Match patterns loosely, in case tabs or spaces have been
munged in your files. Any sequence of one or more blanks in
the patch file matches any sequence in the original file, and
sequences of blanks at the ends of lines are ignored. Normal
characters must still match exactly. Each line of the context
must still match a line in the original file.
--merge or --merge=merge or --merge=diff3
Merge a patch file into the original files similar to diff3(1)
or merge(1). If a conflict is found, patch outputs a warning
and brackets the conflict with <<<<<<< and >>>>>>> lines. A
typical conflict will look like this:
<<<<<<<
lines from the original file
|||||||
original lines from the patch
=======
new lines from the patch
>>>>>>>
The optional argument of --merge determines the output format
for conflicts: the diff3 format shows the ||||||| section with
the original lines from the patch; in the merge format, this
section is missing. The merge format is the default.
This option implies --forward and does not take the --fuzz=num
option into account.
-n or --normal
Interpret the patch file as a normal diff.
-N or --forward
When a patch does not apply, patch usually checks if the patch
looks like it has been applied already by trying to reverse-
apply the first hunk. The --forward option prevents that.
See also -R.
-o outfile or --output=outfile
Send output to outfile instead of patching files in place. Do
not use this option if outfile is one of the files to be
patched. When outfile is -, send output to standard output,
and send any messages that would usually go to standard output
to standard error.
-pnum or --strip=num
Strip the smallest prefix containing num leading slashes from
each file name found in the patch file. A sequence of one or
more adjacent slashes is counted as a single slash. This
controls how file names found in the patch file are treated,
in case you keep your files in a different directory than the
person who sent out the patch. For example, supposing the
file name in the patch file was
/u/howard/src/blurfl/blurfl.c
setting -p0 gives the entire file name unmodified, -p1 gives
u/howard/src/blurfl/blurfl.c
without the leading slash, -p4 gives
blurfl/blurfl.c
and not specifying -p at all just gives you blurfl.c. Whatever
you end up with is looked for either in the current directory, or
the directory specified by the -d option.
--posix
Conform more strictly to the POSIX standard, as follows.
• Take the first existing file from the list (old, new,
index) when intuiting file names from diff headers.
• Do not remove files that are empty after patching.
• Do not ask whether to get files from RCS, ClearCase,
Perforce, or SCCS.
• Require that all options precede the files in the command
line.
• Do not backup files when there is a mismatch.
--quoting-style=word
Use style word to quote output names. The word should be one
of the following:
literal
Output names as-is.
shell Quote names for the shell if they contain shell
metacharacters or would cause ambiguous output.
shell-always
Quote names for the shell, even if they would normally
not require quoting.
c Quote names as for a C language string.
escape Quote as with c except omit the surrounding double-
quote characters.
You can specify the default value of the --quoting-style
option with the environment variable QUOTING_STYLE. If that
environment variable is not set, the default value is shell.
-r rejectfile or --reject-file=rejectfile
Put rejects into rejectfile instead of the default .rej file.
When rejectfile is -, discard rejects.
-R or --reverse
Assume that this patch was created with the old and new files
swapped. (Yes, I'm afraid that does happen occasionally,
human nature being what it is.) patch attempts to swap each
hunk around before applying it. Rejects come out in the
swapped format. The -R option does not work with ed diff
scripts because there is too little information to reconstruct
the reverse operation.
If the first hunk of a patch fails, patch reverses the hunk to
see if it can be applied that way. If it can, you are asked
if you want to have the -R option set. If it can't, the patch
continues to be applied normally. (Note: this method cannot
detect a reversed patch if it is a normal diff and if the
first command is an append (i.e. it should have been a delete)
since appends always succeed, due to the fact that a null
context matches anywhere. Luckily, most patches add or change
lines rather than delete them, so most reversed normal diffs
begin with a delete, which fails, triggering the heuristic.)
--read-only=behavior
Behave as requested when trying to modify a read-only file:
ignore the potential problem, warn about it (the default), or
fail.
--reject-format=format
Produce reject files in the specified format (either context
or unified). Without this option, rejected hunks come out in
unified diff format if the input patch was of that format,
otherwise in ordinary context diff form.
-s or --silent or --quiet
Work silently, unless an error occurs.
--follow-symlinks
When looking for input files, follow symbolic links. Replaces
the symbolic links, instead of modifying the files the
symbolic links point to. Git-style patches to symbolic links
will no longer apply. This option exists for backwards
compatibility with previous versions of patch; its use is
discouraged.
-t or --batch
Suppress questions like -f, but make some different
assumptions: skip patches whose headers do not contain file
names (the same as -f); skip patches for which the file has
the wrong version for the Prereq: line in the patch; and
assume that patches are reversed if they look like they are.
-T or --set-time
Set the modification and access times of patched files from
time stamps given in context diff headers. Unless specified
in the time stamps, assume that the context diff headers use
local time.
Use of this option with time stamps that do not include time
zones is not recommended, because patches using local time
cannot easily be used by people in other time zones, and
because local time stamps are ambiguous when local clocks move
backwards during daylight-saving time adjustments. Make sure
that time stamps include time zones, or generate patches with
UTC and use the -Z or --set-utc option instead.
-u or --unified
Interpret the patch file as a unified context diff.
-v or --version
Print out patch's revision header and patch level, and exit.
-V method or --version-control=method
Use method to determine backup file names. The method can
also be given by the PATCH_VERSION_CONTROL (or, if that's not
set, the VERSION_CONTROL) environment variable, which is
overridden by this option. The method does not affect whether
backup files are made; it affects only the names of any backup
files that are made.
The value of method is like the GNU Emacs `version-control'
variable; patch also recognizes synonyms that are more
descriptive. The valid values for method are (unique
abbreviations are accepted):
existing or nil
Make numbered backups of files that already have them,
otherwise simple backups. This is the default.
numbered or t
Make numbered backups. The numbered backup file name for F
is F.~N~ where N is the version number.
simple or never
Make simple backups. The -B or --prefix, -Y or
--basename-prefix, and -z or --suffix options specify the
simple backup file name. If none of these options are
given, then a simple backup suffix is used; it is the value
of the SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX environment variable if set,
and is .orig otherwise.
With numbered or simple backups, if the backup file name is
too long, the backup suffix ~ is used instead; if even
appending ~ would make the name too long, then ~ replaces the
last character of the file name.
--verbose
Output extra information about the work being done.
-x num or --debug=num
Set internal debugging flags of interest only to patch
patchers.
-Y pref or --basename-prefix=pref
Use the simple method to determine backup file names (see the
-V method or --version-control method option), and prefix pref
to the basename of a file name when generating its backup file
name. For example, with -Y .del/ the simple backup file name
for src/patch/util.c is src/patch/.del/util.c.
-z suffix or --suffix=suffix
Use the simple method to determine backup file names (see the
-V method or --version-control method option), and use suffix
as the suffix. For example, with -z - the backup file name
for src/patch/util.c is src/patch/util.c-.
-Z or --set-utc
Set the modification and access times of patched files from
time stamps given in context diff headers. Unless specified in
the time stamps, assume that the context diff headers use
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, often known as GMT). Also
see the -T or --set-time option.
The -Z or --set-utc and -T or --set-time options normally
refrain from setting a file's time if the file's original time
does not match the time given in the patch header, or if its
contents do not match the patch exactly. However, if the -f
or --force option is given, the file time is set regardless.
Due to the limitations of diff output format, these options
cannot update the times of files whose contents have not
changed. Also, if you use these options, you should remove
(e.g. with make clean) all files that depend on the patched
files, so that later invocations of make do not get confused
by the patched files' times.
PATCH_GET
This specifies whether patch gets missing or read-only files
from RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, or SCCS by default; see the -g
or --get option.
POSIXLY_CORRECT
If set, patch conforms more strictly to the POSIX standard by
default: see the --posix option.
QUOTING_STYLE
Default value of the --quoting-style option.
SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX
Extension to use for simple backup file names instead of
.orig.
TMPDIR, TMP, TEMP
Directory to put temporary files in; patch uses the first
environment variable in this list that is set. If none are
set, the default is system-dependent; it is normally /tmp on
Unix hosts.
VERSION_CONTROL or PATCH_VERSION_CONTROL
Selects version control style; see the -v or --version-control
option.
$TMPDIR/p*
temporary files
/dev/tty
controlling terminal; used to get answers to questions asked
of the user
diff(1), ed(1), merge(1).
Marshall T. Rose and Einar A. Stefferud, Proposed Standard for
Message Encapsulation, Internet RFC 934
<URL:ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc934.txt> (1985-01).
There are several things you should bear in mind if you are going
to be sending out patches.
Create your patch systematically. A good method is the command
diff -Naur old new where old and new identify the old and new
directories. The names old and new should not contain any
slashes. The diff command's headers should have dates and times
in Universal Time using traditional Unix format, so that patch
recipients can use the -Z or --set-utc option. Here is an
example command, using Bourne shell syntax:
LC_ALL=C TZ=UTC0 diff -Naur gcc-2.7 gcc-2.8
Tell your recipients how to apply the patch by telling them which
directory to cd to, and which patch options to use. The option
string -Np1 is recommended. Test your procedure by pretending to
be a recipient and applying your patch to a copy of the original
files.
You can save people a lot of grief by keeping a patchlevel.h file
which is patched to increment the patch level as the first diff
in the patch file you send out. If you put a Prereq: line in
with the patch, it won't let them apply patches out of order
without some warning.
You can create a file by sending out a diff that compares
/dev/null or an empty file dated the Epoch (1970-01-01 00:00:00
UTC) to the file you want to create. This only works if the file
you want to create doesn't exist already in the target directory.
Conversely, you can remove a file by sending out a context diff
that compares the file to be deleted with an empty file dated the
Epoch. The file will be removed unless patch is conforming to
POSIX and the -E or --remove-empty-files option is not given. An
easy way to generate patches that create and remove files is to
use GNU diff's -N or --new-file option.
If the recipient is supposed to use the -pN option, do not send
output that looks like this:
diff -Naur v2.0.29/prog/README prog/README
--- v2.0.29/prog/README Mon Mar 10 15:13:12 1997
+++ prog/README Mon Mar 17 14:58:22 1997
because the two file names have different numbers of slashes, and
different versions of patch interpret the file names differently.
To avoid confusion, send output that looks like this instead:
diff -Naur v2.0.29/prog/README v2.0.30/prog/README
--- v2.0.29/prog/README Mon Mar 10 15:13:12 1997
+++ v2.0.30/prog/README Mon Mar 17 14:58:22 1997
Avoid sending patches that compare backup file names like
README.orig, since this might confuse patch into patching a
backup file instead of the real file. Instead, send patches that
compare the same base file names in different directories, e.g.
old/README and new/README.
Take care not to send out reversed patches, since it makes people
wonder whether they already applied the patch.
Try not to have your patch modify derived files (e.g. the file
configure where there is a line configure: configure.in in your
makefile), since the recipient should be able to regenerate the
derived files anyway. If you must send diffs of derived files,
generate the diffs using UTC, have the recipients apply the patch
with the -Z or --set-utc option, and have them remove any
unpatched files that depend on patched files (e.g. with
make clean).
While you may be able to get away with putting 582 diff listings
into one file, it may be wiser to group related patches into
separate files in case something goes haywire.
Diagnostics generally indicate that patch couldn't parse your
patch file.
If the --verbose option is given, the message Hmm... indicates
that there is unprocessed text in the patch file and that patch
is attempting to intuit whether there is a patch in that text
and, if so, what kind of patch it is.
patch's exit status is 0 if all hunks are applied successfully, 1
if some hunks cannot be applied or there were merge conflicts,
and 2 if there is more serious trouble. When applying a set of
patches in a loop it behooves you to check this exit status so
you don't apply a later patch to a partially patched file.
Context diffs cannot reliably represent the creation or deletion
of empty files, empty directories, or special files such as
symbolic links. Nor can they represent changes to file metadata
like ownership, permissions, or whether one file is a hard link
to another. If changes like these are also required, separate
instructions (e.g. a shell script) to accomplish them should
accompany the patch.
patch cannot tell if the line numbers are off in an ed script,
and can detect bad line numbers in a normal diff only when it
finds a change or deletion. A context diff using fuzz factor 3
may have the same problem. You should probably do a context diff
in these cases to see if the changes made sense. Of course,
compiling without errors is a pretty good indication that the
patch worked, but not always.
patch usually produces the correct results, even when it has to
do a lot of guessing. However, the results are guaranteed to be
correct only when the patch is applied to exactly the same
version of the file that the patch was generated from.
The POSIX standard specifies behavior that differs from patch's
traditional behavior. You should be aware of these differences
if you must interoperate with patch versions 2.1 and earlier,
which do not conform to POSIX.
• In traditional patch, the -p option's operand was optional,
and a bare -p was equivalent to -p0. The -p option now
requires an operand, and -p 0 is now equivalent to -p0. For
maximum compatibility, use options like -p0 and -p1.
Also, traditional patch simply counted slashes when stripping
path prefixes; patch now counts pathname components. That is,
a sequence of one or more adjacent slashes now counts as a
single slash. For maximum portability, avoid sending patches
containing // in file names.
• In traditional patch, backups were enabled by default. This
behavior is now enabled with the -b or --backup option.
Conversely, in POSIX patch, backups are never made, even when
there is a mismatch. In GNU patch, this behavior is enabled
with the --no-backup-if-mismatch option, or by conforming to
POSIX with the --posix option or by setting the
POSIXLY_CORRECT environment variable.
The -b suffix option of traditional patch is equivalent to the
-b -z suffix options of GNU patch.
• Traditional patch used a complicated (and incompletely
documented) method to intuit the name of the file to be
patched from the patch header. This method did not conform to
POSIX, and had a few gotchas. Now patch uses a different,
equally complicated (but better documented) method that is
optionally POSIX-conforming; we hope it has fewer gotchas.
The two methods are compatible if the file names in the
context diff header and the Index: line are all identical
after prefix-stripping. Your patch is normally compatible if
each header's file names all contain the same number of
slashes.
• When traditional patch asked the user a question, it sent the
question to standard error and looked for an answer from the
first file in the following list that was a terminal: standard
error, standard output, /dev/tty, and standard input. Now
patch sends questions to standard output and gets answers from
/dev/tty. Defaults for some answers have been changed so that
patch never goes into an infinite loop when using default
answers.
• Traditional patch exited with a status value that counted the
number of bad hunks, or with status 1 if there was real
trouble. Now patch exits with status 1 if some hunks failed,
or with 2 if there was real trouble.
• Limit yourself to the following options when sending
instructions meant to be executed by anyone running GNU patch,
traditional patch, or a patch that conforms to POSIX. Spaces
are significant in the following list, and operands are
required.
-c
-d dir
-D define
-e
-l
-n
-N
-o outfile
-pnum
-R
-r rejectfile
Please report bugs via email to <bug-patch@gnu.org>.
If code has been duplicated (for instance with #ifdef OLDCODE ...
#else ... #endif), patch is incapable of patching both versions,
and, if it works at all, will likely patch the wrong one, and
tell you that it succeeded to boot.
If you apply a patch you've already applied, patch thinks it is a
reversed patch, and offers to un-apply the patch. This could be
construed as a feature.
Computing how to merge a hunk is significantly harder than using
the standard fuzzy algorithm. Bigger hunks, more context, a
bigger offset from the original location, and a worse match all
slow the algorithm down.
Copyright (C) 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 Larry Wall.
Copyright (C) 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996,
1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 Free Software
Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission
notice are preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided
that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the
terms of a permission notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for
modified versions, except that this permission notice may be
included in translations approved by the copyright holders
instead of in the original English.
Larry Wall wrote the original version of patch. Paul Eggert
removed patch's arbitrary limits; added support for binary files,
setting file times, and deleting files; and made it conform
better to POSIX. Other contributors include Wayne Davison, who
added unidiff support, and David MacKenzie, who added
configuration and backup support. Andreas Grünbacher added
support for merging.
This page is part of the patch (GNU patch) project. Information
about the project can be found at
⟨http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/patch/⟩. If you have a bug
report for this manual page, see
⟨http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=patch⟩. This page was
obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨git://git.savannah.gnu.org/patch.git⟩ on 2024-06-14. (At that
time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
repository was 2024-03-02.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
GNU PATCH(1)
Pages that refer to this page: diff(1), dpkg-source(1), gendiff(1), quilt(1), suffixes(7)
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